In the 1980s, three of us built an Apple IIe prototype.
One of them was my best friend.
We lost touch when I went to college.
It was a summer in Ogdensburg, New York.
Three teenagers, one mentor, one Apple IIe.
In 1984 I wrote floppy disc copy protection in assembly.
That summer we also started a dungeon game.
In our minds it looked like the games of today.
On the machine, it did not fit.
Even with look up tables, the maps were too big.
They would not fit in memory, or on the floppy disc.
We scrapped it. We had to wait for the PC.
My vision was ahead of my ability to build it.
We lost touch when I went to college.
I have thought about that summer ever since.
I am doing the same exercise now with Earthgrid.
This time the machines are catching up.
If you were there, I would love to hear from you.
If you know who was, please pass this on.
That one detail is how I know it is you.
It also keeps strangers from guessing.
I will not share your name with anyone without asking you first.
Ogdensburg, New York. The 1980s.
A few teenage programmers and an Apple IIe.
A friend of a friend is how we find people.
Please share this page.
Earthgrid was built so bonds like this can come back.
Either side can reach out, and either side can stop.